Gosanke

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The Tokugawa Gosanke (徳川御三家, literally "three honorable houses of the Tokugawa"^?) were three branches of the Tokugawa clan of Japan. They were descended from Tokugawa Ieyasu through younger brothers of his heir, Tokugawa Hidetada. Ieyasu established the three houses to provide successors to the Tokugawa shogunate in case the main line should become extinct. This happened when the seventh shogun died without an heir.

The three had the highest rank among the shinpan, the daimyo who were relatives of the shogun. After the Meiji Restoration, under the kazoku system, the heads of the three houses became marquesses.

The senior branch was the Owari house. The first of this line was Tokugawa Yoshinao, ninth son of Ieyasu. He and his heirs were daimyo of the Owari Han, with its headquarters at Nagoya Castle. The fief had a rating of 619,500 koku. During the Edo Period, 17 men successively headed the house.

Second in seniority was the Kii or Kishū house. The founder was Tokugawa Yorinobu, the tenth son of Ieyasu. Yorinobu was daimyo of the Kishū Han with its castle at Wakayama and a rating of 555,000 koku. He entered Wakayama in 1619 when the previous daimyo was transferred. Fourteen members of the Tokugawa clan headed the fief during the Edo Period.

The fifth Tokugawa daimyo of Kii was Yoshimune, who later became shogun and appointed a relative to head the Kii Han. Yoshimune established three new houses, the gosankyō, installing two sons and a grandson as heads. The gosanke provided the model for the gosankyō. However, while Yoshimune granted lands to the gosankyō, the lands were not consolidated into coherent han, but instead were scattered in various places; the total holdings were also smaller than those of the gosanke.

Third in seniority among the Gosanke was the Mito house. The founder was Tokugawa Yorifusa, the eleventh son of Ieyasu. Their fief was the Mito Han in Hitachi Prefecture, with its castle at Mito and lands rated at 350,000 koku. Eleven men headed the house, including Tokugawa (Mito) Mitsukuni.

Early in the Edo Period, the term gosanke referred to various other combinations of Tokugawa houses, including these: